A bid progresses to preserve House records, Feb. 21, 1910

There are nearly 200 million pages of House records deposited at the National Archives building under the care of the Center for Legislative Archives in downtown Washington. They were transferred there, some 40 years ago, from the Library of Congress to the National Archives and are today cared for by the clerk of the House’s 20-person archival staff.

It was not always so.

Story Continued Below

On this date in 1910, Rep. Daniel Lafean (R-Pa.) sought $2,500 “for the better preservation of the early files of the House.” A subsequent report prepared by the House Committee on Accounts, to which Lefean’s resolution had been referred, described the rapidly deteriorating condition of House records stored in the U.S. Capitol’s attic.

The space contained hundreds of bundles of the earliest records, “neglected and decaying,” which were piled to the ceiling in a narrow passageway. The report called for additional funding to classify and rejacket these materials, which included original bills and amendments, correspondence, memorials of state and territorial legislatures, petitions, and other reports.

The records covered “a variety of subjects and in themselves [furnish] a documentary history of some of the most important events in our history,” the report said. It described a letter from Martha Washington to Congress consenting to the burial of President George Washington in the Capitol crypt. The letter had been cut from one of the bound volumes of original documents but was later recovered. The committee recommended the deposit of all original papers and letters of historical value with the Librarian of Congress.

POLITICO Playbook newsletter

Sign up today to receive the #1-rated newsletter in politics

Email

By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time.

A decade earlier, the House had taken a first step toward the long-term preservation of its records by providing funding for document storage in a general appropriations bill. At the time, an obscure staircase led to the Capitol attic room which for years served as storage space for early House records.

On June 6, 1900, this effort became law. The clerk of the House, former Rep. Alexander McDowell (R-Pa.), initiated the change. In 1899, McDowell had presented a plaintive letter from file clerk Walter French detailing the need for more and better storage space for House files.

“The extreme heat in summer from the iron roof and the dampness in winter from the condensation of hot air coming against the cold iron of the roof renders the place unfit for documents of such value,” French explained. “Portions of the shelving in the attic are of wood, and in the event of fire would be entirely inaccessible, as this attic can only be reached through this office and up three flights of narrow stairs.”

In 1901, after some dithering, an initial tranche, consisting of 5,502 volumes of “journals, miscellaneous documents, executive documents, bills, reports, committee books, and records of the office of the clerk,” dating back to 1789, was sent to the Library of Congress, along with a $1,500 appropriation to fund their safekeeping.